Chemistry
Structurally, dopamine belongs to the catecholamine and phenethylamine classes. The crystal structure of dopamine hydrochloride has been determined.
In the laboratory, dopamine may be synthesized by demethylation of 3,4-dimethoxyphenethylamine using hydrogen bromide:
Basicity: protonated dopamine has three acidity constants: pKa1 = 8.89 (first OH); pKa2 = 10.41 (-NH3+); pKa3 = 13.1 (second OH); the two phenolic acidity constants cannot be attributed to a specific -OH group. Because of the variables involved in pKa determination (see discussions in cited papers), other values may be found in the literature. For example, a careful set of experiments reported by Armstrong and Barlow for dopamine hydrochloride yielded these data: pKa at 25°C and 10mM concentration = 8.81 and 10.5.
Read more about this topic: Dopamine
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